The Most Expensive Question You Didn't Ask

Fear is one reason teams jump from an idea to a solution before they understand the problem. It does not always look like panic. It can look like adding another inspection, building a feature that can be placed on a chart, accepting the answer from the person with the most authority, or avoiding a decision altogether.In this solo compilation episode, Dianna Deeney asks four contributors how fear or uncertainty affects decisions in their areas of work. Their responses show four ways fear can shape a decision before the team fully understands the problem. ContributorsMartin Griffiths — Metis Automation and the Manufacturers Make Strides podcastManufacturing Execution System - Metis AutomationManufacturers Make Strides - Metis AutomationDianna's interview on Manufacturers Make StridesJake McKee — Principal Conversation Design ConsultantJake McKee | Customer engagement for product teamsSlow Down to Speed Up: Jake McKee's Guide to AIX (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts) - Deeney EnterprisesYakira Mirabito — researcher in engineering design and innovationYakira MirabitoSocial Dynamics within Engineering with Yakira Mirabito (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts) - Deeney EnterprisesGreg Hutchins — certified enterprise risk manager and founder of CERM Risk Insightslinkedin.com/in/greghutchins Your ChallengeChoose one current decision and write down four things:1. What are you afraid will happen?2. What solution are you tempted to choose?3. What evidence do you currently have to support that decision?4. What small step would increase understanding before commitment?Fear can point to a real risk. The goal is not to dismiss it. Investigate what it is telling you before you let it choose the solution.For more highlights, visit the related blog post: deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcast/s7e5Subscribe to Quality During Design on your preferred podcast player, and visit qualityduringdesign.com for the podcast library, articles, and other resources.Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

Ashley Phillips joins Dianna to discuss how customer discovery changes across startups, hypergrowth teams, and established products. Customers may surprise a team with new ways to use a product, while the environment around a long-standing product can change enough to make old assumptions stale. Ashley shares examples from Venmo, Groupon, and Aura Frames, and explains why direct customer contact, real prototypes, usage data, and curiosity all matter when teams are deciding what to build next.Key TakeawaysDiscovery continues after launch because customers can reveal new uses and new product opportunities.Customer expectations can change even when the customer segment appears stable.Hardware products require a different balance between speed, learning, and release risk.Engineers make better building decisions when they get closer to the people using the product.Metrics show that something is happening; customer conversations help explain what is happening and why.Your ChallengeChoose one customer assumption your team is relying on. Review one current usage metric, support pattern, or piece of direct customer feedback. Ask whether it confirms the assumption, complicates it, or suggests that the surrounding environment has changed. Then get closer to the source by joining a customer interview, listening to a support interaction, or observing someone using the product.For more highlights, visit the blog post. deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcast/s7e4Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

In this solo episode of Quality during Design, Dianna looks at two reasons product development teams jump from a partial understanding of a problem to a committed solution: speed and certainty. Fast prototyping, generative AI, and 3D printing can make building feel harmless, but activity only creates value when it answers a specific question and informs a decision. Certainty can create the same design fog more slowly, when familiar customers, old requirements, or past successes are treated as current evidence without being checked. The practical question is not whether teams should act, but whether their action is connected to learning and whether they are prepared to change course.YOUR CHALLENGETake one customer assumption your team is relying on and ask: “When was the last time we checked it against current behavior?” Then identify what evidence would cause you to stop, change course, or revisit the solution.RESOURCESSeason 7 episode kickoff — Why Do We Jump? About the Moment Before We Commit - Deeney EnterprisesRelated episode with Ashley Roach — When Building Gets Cheap, Decisions Matter More, with Ashley Roach - Deeney EnterprisesFor more highlights, visit the blog post: deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcast/s7e3Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

Fast prototyping changes the constraint.When software, AI tools, and other rapid-prototyping methods make it inexpensive to turn an idea into something testable, the challenge is no longer only Can we build it? The harder questions become:What should we build?Who is it for?What evidence do we need?When should we stop tweaking and get it in front of people?Which decisions are reversible—and which ones will lock in future choices?In this episode, Ashley Roach and I discuss how speed can help teams explore ideas, but can also create a new version of the build trap: continuing to improve the thing because building feels productive, before confirming that it is valuable to customers.Ashley shares how he uses AI tools as thought partners, including an example where an AI system challenged him to stop adding functionality and gather more evidence first. We also discuss one-way and two-way doors, innovation inside larger organizations, cross-functional decision-making, and what changes when everyone in a company can become a builder.Key Takeaways:When building becomes cheap and fast, deciding what to build becomes a more important skill.Rapid prototyping can create a build trap if teams keep tweaking instead of testing with real people.Two-way-door decisions can often be made quickly because they are reversible; one-way-door decisions require deeper deliberation.Engineers, product managers, designers, and other specialists may increasingly participate in work outside their traditional roles.A simple opportunity brief can help teams examine whether an idea is worth pursuing before investing further.Your ChallengeBefore you build or keep refining your next idea, write down:Who is this for?What evidence would show that it is valuable?Is the next decision reversible?If the decision is reversible, consider making it and learning from the result. If it is difficult to reverse, slow down long enough to understand what you are locking in.For more highlights from this conversation, including the Opportunity Brief checklist and extra resources that Ashley recommends, visit the blog post: deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcasts/s7e2Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

When a project goes off track, we usually look back and say, “We didn’t define the problem, and we jumped.” That sounds like a process breakdown, as if one good checklist or gate approval would have prevented it.But design fog runs deeper than missing process. It’s what’s happening in us.Over the next few episodes on Quality During Design, we’re exploring a quieter question: When we jump to a solution, why?Before we understand the problem, we start building. We skip questioning and investigating, jump the peak of the design diamond, and reach for a solution that feels like progress, but is really an emotional shield against the discomfort of not knowing. It’s the "Ta-Da Flop" waiting to happen.In this Season 7 opener, Dianna Deeney introduces the roadmap for this season's arc:What the "Anti-Jump" looks like: Staying in the fog on purpose to uncover the design inputs that actually matter.Why the jump is so hard to resist: In the moment, jumping doesn't feel like failure—it feels like forward progress.The Three Internal Engines:Speed: When additive manufacturing, digital twins, and AI make building cheap, jumping gets easier.Certainty: When we’re convinced we already know, we stop checking.The Deeper Engine: A more human driver running underneath both, saved for our season finale.The Roadmap: How upcoming guests like Ashley Roach (on the "tweak loop" and one-way vs. two-way doors) connect directly into this framework.Your Practice Question for the Week:When you catch yourself jumping this week, don’t judge it. Just ask:"Did I jump because it was easy to build, or because I was certain I already knew?"Resources Mentioned:Featured Book: Pierce the Design Fog: Develop High-Quality Products Faster Through Team Innovation by Dianna Deeney. Learn more at piercethedesignfog.com.Double Diamond Diagram: Check out the accompanying graphic in the blog post at deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcast/s7e1.Subscribe to Quality During Design so you don't miss an episode in this season's arc!Other podcast episodes you may like:Predictive Analytics, Machine Learning, AI, and VR in Design EngineeringStop Being a Witness to Decisions That You Should be Helping to ShapeFoundations-Exploring the Problem Space, A Key Principle for Robust Product Design and Project SuccessThe Design Fog is Derailing Your ProjectSend us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

Why do well-designed initiatives keep coming apart when they reach reality? Mike Fedorov, who spent 26 years in supply chain and operations at Mars and Accenture and now co-leads Applied AI Labs, explains that the failure usually isn’t a bad call inside a single design. It’s the coordination layer: the seams between teams, systems, and the data that no one remembers how to work. He walks through a transformation that stalled for months, what AI can actually do to close the gap, and the habits separating the AI programs that work from the 95% that quietly fail. HighlightsThe coordination layer is where modern design fails, not inside the design. The handoffs, systems, and data in the spaces between teams accumulate more opportunities to break than the parts themselves.The data is always a little wrong. Design for that. Waiting for perfect data is waiting forever; build systems that detect, tolerate, or self-correct small errors instead.AI doesn’t make the call; it should make the call obvious. AI’s job is to watch the data, connect the dots, and put the two or three important things in front of a human who decides.Mike's three rules that work when implementing AI for the coordination layer.Visit the podcast blog for a special infographic from Mike.Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

A cross-functional team can make what seems like a solid Friday decision, captured in minutes and agreed to in the room. Only then nothing moves on Monday. Drawing on Agnes Carroll’s observation that “no one is carrying it,” the episode argues this decision room carry problem isn’t solved by better documentation or tools like Jira and decision matrices, because an assigned decision is not an authored one. The gap is cognitive: the people who must execute weren’t reasoning, stress-testing, and co-authoring the trade-offs when the decision was made. Using design-for-manufacturing as an example, we explain how Pierce the Design Fog and its ADEPT framework (align, discover, examine, prioritize, teamwork) are designed to create real-time co-authorship so decisions carry into execution, especially in high-consequence product development.Agnes Carroll, Decision Architect for Complexity, Loomworx Studio.Article: "The Decision the Room Will Not Carry"  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/decision-room-carry-agnes-carroll-2sasc/ Studio: https://loomworxstudio.comDesign & Quality Snapshot: Services - Deeney EnterprisesBlog post for this episode: https://deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcast/decision-room-carry-why-your-best-decisions-disappear-on-monday/Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

In this milestone episode, Dianna reflects on how the thinking evolved from quality methods to product development processes, to team dynamics, and ultimately to one central idea:Quality during Design happens when teams align early and think together intentionally.In this episode The question that has guided all 200 episodes  Why good engineering teams still build products that miss the mark  The evolution from tools → process → people → systems  The "Design Fog" and why the earliest product decisions matter most  What a backyard orchard taught Dianna about product development  How brainwriting led to the ADEPT Framework  Why the future of quality starts before engineering design begins Featured ideas Design Fog  ADEPT Framework  Concept Space Model  Brainwriting  Early concept development  Cross-functional alignment  Building the right product before building the product right Thank youWhether this is your first episode or you've been listening since 2021, thank you for being part of the Quality During Design community. Your questions, conversations, and willingness to rethink product development have shaped this podcast as much as the ideas shared.Here's to the next 200 episodes.Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

Why do product teams stay misaligned? Jenny Wanger explains the structural problems: efficiency-focused handoff workflows, unclear strategy, and people left cleaning up decisions they didn't help make. She shares tested practices for influencing upstream decisions without formal authority: clarifying strategy through curiosity, bringing the right people in early (pre-mortems work), and publicly recognizing collaborators.Key TakeawaysFire drills and half-finished features often stem from lost customer context in handoff-driven workflowsUse curiosity, not criticism, to surface strategy gaps - Interview leaders and highlight missing piecesRun cross-functional pre-mortems early; rank risks by likelihood × impact, not opinionMake others look good publicly (CC their boss); build a reputation as someone worth invitingTimestamps02:42 The Misalignment Before Picture05:05 The Handoff Trap17:00 Strategy Gaps & Curiosity23:00 Pre-Mortems & Early Involvement32:00 First StepsResourcesJenny Wanger: jennywanger.com | LinkedInYour Challenge Pick one: Share a kudos with someone's manager, approach a colleague about a past bottleneck, or volunteer to run a pre-mortem.Send us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...

The episode features Chad Schneider, CEO and founder of Root3 Labs, discussing prototyping as a discipline focused on answering specific questions to reduce technical, schedule, and market risk. He explains that prototypes need not resemble the final product, citing examples like using a cardboard mockup to verify hand access for connectors and 3D-printed sizing models to understand surgical constraints. Chad describes managing complex, time-constrained projects by rigorously evaluating requirements as needs versus wants. He uses quick calculations and low-fidelity prototypes to resolve unknowns early — when changes are cheap — rather than waiting for expensive tooling decisions to reveal them. He also shares a hospital device concept that was canceled after observing nurses (who immediately removed the cable-concealing covers the team had designed) framing 'killing' the project as a win.  Key takeaway: before you build, write down the question you're trying to answer, then find the lowest-resolution way to answer it. For more highlights, visit the blog post.00:00 Start With The Question01:22 Meet Chad Schneider02:25 What Root Three Builds04:46 Prototype Means Question06:25 Why Skipping Costs More07:17 Cardboard Box Prototype09:27 Managing Deadlines And Needs13:47 Risk Based Prototyping Culture21:48 User Feedback Can Kill Projects30:47 Final Takeaways And ChallengeSend us a messageWork with DiannaI provide independent quality engineering, product-assurance, and technical-risk support when product or process decisions need experienced outside scrutiny.My work includes:Quality-system and product-development method reviewsTechnical evidence and standards-based rationaleIndependent risk and readiness reviewsProject-based and fractional quality advisoryStart with a 20-minute conversation:https://calendly.com/dianna-deeney/discovery-callInterested in being a guest?If you have a practical perspective on quality, reliability, risk, or product development, email Dianna at [email protected] the Design FogMy book explains how cross-functional teams can align around customer needs, clarify design inputs, and make better product-development decisions.Read more: https://piercethedesignfog.comThe book was an NIEA Finalist and was reviewed by PDMA. BookLife Reviews described it as:“Great for fans of Tony Fadell’s Build, David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall’s The Product Mindset.”Free resources for subscribersSubscribe to the Quality during Design digest for monthly practical highlights, plus access to the Strategic Quality Integration Checklist ...